Exclusive: Inside Account of US Eavesdropping on Americans

Exclusive: Inside Account of US Eavesdropping on Americans

abcnews.go.com

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is exactly what opponents of these policies and bills were afraid of. The government keeps assuring us that they are responsible and can limit themselves from flagerant abuse of power, but continually show they cannot hold their own leash.

I wonder how long before these whistleblowers end up dead or their mental stability put in question?

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Does the NSA really have the authority to be spying on American citizens, even if they are abroad? The NSA

is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence.

Wikipedia

The intercepted calls included military, journalists and aid workers phone calls, including calls to home and the US. Are these calls considered foreign if both are citizens of the US? Even if they are, these individuals had no links to terrorism whatsoever, so this is a gross violation and misrepresentation to obtain approval of unconstitutional spying programs.

I had to chuckle when I read this story. We in the intelligence
community were doing this in the 1970's. It was "secret" then,
and much more difficult because cables & switching stations had
to be tapped.

Now, phonecalls can be collected with a basic programmable
scanner from Radio Shack.

Governments across the globe were doing this decades ago and the
collections will continue, because they are necessary. It's just too
bad that we've regressed to an adolescent society where people
put their own privacy ahead of the overall good. One day it will be
known how many attacks were thwarted simply by intercepting
phone conversations. I'm sure there are many.

reply to post by carewemust


I don't see how society has digressed as you put it. People have always been leery of the government spying on its own people. Especially those who have no ties to terrorism or crime. It is being spoken against more now, in my opinion, because of the misrepresentation of the scope of their eavesdropping. The president and intelligence officials pledged that this would be used on suspected terrorists, not everyday citizens making calls to home or friends.

reply to post by ninthaxis


I said our society has digressed from a mature/balanced way of viewing
this because we used to understand the threat from those who want to
kill us and didn't mind our government doing whatever it took to keep
the Soviet Union, or other countries, from attacking. Now, we whine
like little babies when the United States does it's best to protect.

You're correct. There is reason for concern if you're doing something
that you don't want anyone else to know. But if it's just something
embarassing and not illegal, your conversation is ignored by the
software.

With today's computer power, millions of conversations must be analyzed
electronically for certain words. Targeting just certain phones often let
the "bad guys" slip through the net. They now purchase a box of
pre-paid cells, use them once and throw them away. The intelligence
community must cast a very large net of interception nowadays.




[edit on 9-10-2008 by carewemust]

reply to post by carewemust


Hey... a government employee telling us it's for our own good and we should only be concerned if we've got something to hide.... and on a conspiracy theory site nonetheless???

Go back to bed, America. This guy says it's for your own good.

reply to post by dunwichwitch


I'm not a government employee, Dunwichwitch. I've just experienced
things that have worked to keep this country (USA) free for people
to bash each other as you obviously enjoy doing. Have at it my friend.
ENJOY your freedoms and life! -cwm

reply to post by carewemust


You said that the conversation is ignored by software if you aren't saying anything wrong. But in the article the officers talked about listening in on phone calls that had nothing to do with anything, private matters, calls to home, even "bedroom" talk. So obviously software isn't the determining factor here. I would trust a computer to do this better than a human, as computers cannot break its code [i.e. laws/policies] as humans so often do.

reply to post by carewemust



Oh thank you. I surely did ask to be protected from innocent brown children thousands of miles away from me. Pre-emptive attacks - Bomb them BEFORE they can grow up to be terrorists.

Keep this country safe from all the other people we've raped and pillaged in order to sustain our way of life. Pre-emptive starvation - starve the children so when they grow up, they'll be too weak from hunger to learn to expertly navigate a huge commercial airliner....using a cessna as training... hijack an airplane, and then ram it into buildings, having no real further effect except furthering the freedom loving political/military leaders' agenda for more slavery and mass genocide.

My freedoms.... let me name a few. Ummm I can do ANYTHING... as long as I pay out my ass to do it every single second of every day. And if it doesn't generate profit, it's not important, and therefore I'm not free to do it. I'm free to generate profit for someone else, though. How much MORE fulfilling than being free to create and be merry on my own terms! Thank you for the eye opener.

"You are free... to do.... as we tell you.
Yours truly,
the bankers"

reply to post by dunwichwitch


I agree with you. I know 1984 has been rehashed over and over, but it is an epic book. A nation doesn't become like the nation's in 1984 overnight, it is the slow erosion of freedoms/liberties/rights in the name of security, in the name of safety. People were worried this would happen with the creation of spy organizations such as the NSA and CIA, and were assured that this would never affect honest American's. Now that it is affecting them, the powers that be say it is in the name of national security.

It is also unconstitutional for the government to search a citizen without a proper warrant. That is the crux of the matter here. It is not just a nicety that "honest people have nothing to fear." That is a specious argument.

reply to post by gottago


I think it is also important to note that these agencies will build a case and convict people for breaking laws, but hold themselves above the law. They have laws and regulations to follow, just as we do, when they break them, it's okay, we have secret knowledge and you'll thank us 60 years from now when that information is declassified. There is no such defense for an average citizen.

There is also the things taken out of context things. Someone begins listening in is overheard discussing something they read in the news, but the agents only tune in after they hear certain words. That means the agents may have no knowledge of a article or news show being talked about but think it is a credible threat to the nation.

Let's also not forget that the government has setup innocent American citizens, who had "nothing to worry about," for murder as they did not want their mob connections to disappear. These citizens lost decades of freedom with their families for nothing.

reply to post by ninthaxis


The entire NSA wiretapping scandal and the political results were a travesty. This is big-brotherism of the most insidious kind, and reminiscent of the Stasi secret police and informants in East Germany, the old GDR. It is an assault on the fundamental rights of free expression and the prohibition of search without the gov't showing due cause. And it is progressive and the abuse will increase if not checked; today, apparently, it's okay to wiretap Americans overseas, tomorrow, it will be okay to do it at home. next step, random street, car or house searches. and on it goes. All in the name of national security. Individual rights tossed in the dustbin to service state paranoia.

reply to post by gottago


And let us not forget that what is revealed publicly is often just the tip of the iceberg as things are still determined to be too sensitive for the public or still classified. Plus these are top notch organizations, how would someone go about investigating the NSA or FBI? Nearly impossible. So they would have had to make a big mistake for scandals to occur. How much more is lying beneath the surface, unable to be seen?